Thursday, February 11, 2016

80-Page Thursdays: Countdown Special: the Flash #1!


...what the hell did the Flash's villains have to do with Countdown again? Actually, never mind: Countdown was almost universally reviled, so, um, let's just pretend this is a primer for the TV show. From 2007, Countdown Special: the Flash #1, with stories written by John Broome, pencils by Carmine Infantino, inks by Joe Giella and Sid Greene.

This issue reprints the first appearances of classic Flash rogues the Trickster and the Pied Piper--who first appeared the same issue as motherlovin' Gorilla Grodd? And the Piper got the cover! Anyway, I think that was the Countdown connection: they got dragged into some kind of the Defiant Ones-style prison break or some such.

Also, we've got "The Gauntlet of Super-Villains!" and "Stupendous Triumph of the Six Super-Villains!" Your first guess might be that's a two-parter, but those two stories were over two years apart!

Trying to recall if the Pied Piper was killed off on TV's Flash: hmm, not yet, anyway. They do seem to burn through a lot of villains, though. Also, trying to recall if I did ever get the Atom Countdown Special, featuring an issue of Super-Team Family with the Secret Society of Super-Villains, and possibly why Jean Loring was so crazy.

4 comments:

Mr. Morbid's House Of Fun said...

Man, when you look at his Rogue's gallery at the time,especially guys like Piper you can really see why they came in 2nd/3rd behind Batman and Spider-Man's villains.

That being said they were still always solid, and damn if Geoff Johns didn't work his magic on them, forever cementing their spot in the record books. Not that Mark Waid didn't do them justice when he did write them, but Johns' just fleshed out their personalities that much more.

Damn that ink work in that second picture you posted of the Flash. Damn that's good!

Speaking of Rogues, out of the ones they did make, which ones, if any, do you happen to own yourself?

SallyP said...

I do love the Rogues...I really do...but shouldn't that be Gantlet of villainy or whatever? A Gauntlet is a glove.

I still like them better than Bat villains though. They are a lot more...practical.

Mr. Morbid's House Of Fun said...

Better than Batman's rogues? BLASPHEMY!!!!!

googum said...

Oddly, the only Flash Rogue I've got is Captain Cold. And Grodd, I guess. I might have to ask my local comic shop, I swear they told me they had a case or two of Cold!